|
 |
"The
Legend of the Black Walnut KING"
The 70-foot
tall Black Walnut Tree (Juglans
nigra) in the
photo below,
towers over
the 2-story Farm
House. It measures 14 feet, 2 inches in circumference,
four feet above the ground. That's about 4-1/2 feet in diameter !
It may have fed Chipmunks and Squirrels, before any person
living today was born ! It could have been planted by the ancestor of
one
of those very Squirrels. It may be the very largest Black Walnut Tree
in Pennsylvania, or in the
world !
Susquehannock
Indians probably tied their Ponies to it as they harvested its bounty
for Food, Medicine,
decorative Stain for their Bows and Arrows, Insecticide for their Lodge
Poles, and
Dye for their Loin Cloths.
The local river pirate, Simon Girty, who lived in a nearby Mountain Cave, may have quenched his thirst at the nearby freshwater Spring, long
before the White Man unsettled this beautiful Valley where the
mile-wide
Susquehanna River meanders among the many Mountains.
The nearby freshwater Spring was probably the incentive
for
building the Farm House here, as it quenched the thirst of newborn Fawns and newborn Farmers
and the tiny Rootlets of the Giant Black Walnut Tree.
But soon Coal, Oil, and
Iron Ore were discovered nearby, and the pristine Pennsylvania Forests
were turned
into Railroad Ties, Fence Posts, and Firewood to accommodate Farms
and Fields which fed the populations of
our country and others.
Now, many generations later, natives still enjoy the varied
virtues of its bounty, and praise The Power Who created it all, much as
the Indians who knelt to drink from the Spring did . . . so many years
before.
It is in this Amish neighborhood, where we harvest the Natural Organic
Black Walnuts which we ship from Coast to Coast, to particular patrons
who demand Natural Organic Black Walnut products.
They are used to Stain
Gun Stocks and Furniture, and Tie-dye Cloth,
and remove scent from Fox
Traps, and make modern Medications.
Thanks to this ancient Black Walnut Tree
or its nearby denizens of the Forest.
~ ~ ~
|
|
|
|
